Turkey has said it would be willing to host an office for the Taliban, in the hopes that would help advance a peace process ending the war in Afghanistan. From the AP:
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he talked last month about hosting a Taliban office with Burhanuddin Rabbani, a visiting former president of Afghanistan who leads a peace council set up by the Afghan government to work toward a political solution.
“We discussed in detail their request to (establish) such an office and said that we are ready to do everything possible for this process,” Davutoglu said Monday on a trip to Hungary. “If there is such a demand, Turkey will help with full capacity.”
Officials from Afghanistan had previously talked about such a possibility, but Turkey has been publicly silent on the issue until now. Having such an office in a non-neighboring country would obviously make it much easier to come to a political settlement of the war in Afghanistan (and presumably would reduce the chances of dealing with fake Taliban leaders).
In a report (pdf) last month (flagged by the AP), the Century Foundation said some Taliban members were interested:
Some Taliban have expressed an interest in establishing a liaison office in a secure location. Establishing a focal point for the Taliban’s designated representatives—presumably the designated negotiating venue—might consolidate the political process and limit outside influence. The desire to establish a liaison office is a reflection of broader concern about the ability of the Taliban to function as an independent political movement, free from Pakistani supervision.
It's an obvious point, but it bears repeating: Turkey is a unique country. It's pretty remarkable that it could host a group with which it's at war (Turkey has been a big contributor to the International Security Assistance Force and currently has about 1,800 troops in Afghanistan). And it's remarkable that the Taliban would accede. We'll see if this bears fruit.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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